


With the Whispering Wheat in the Fields

by the_bees_are_all_women



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: A whole lotta plot, F/F, Fluff, Sloooow burn baby, smut???
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2019-04-07 04:44:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14073150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_bees_are_all_women/pseuds/the_bees_are_all_women
Summary: AU-ish where Peggy is an young MI5 agent loaned to the US army mid WW2. Stuck at a training base in New Jersey, she’s just itching to get to France and actually do some good for the Allies. But will that change when she meets Angie at a local bar, and hears her sing for he first time?





	With the Whispering Wheat in the Fields

**Author's Note:**

> So I’ve written a few short stories before but this is my first actual fic. The idea had kinda been bouncing around my head for the past few days so I decided just to bang it out on paper. Expect some slow burn and some extra good tunes.

**Undisclosed military base, New Jersey. Summer 1943.**

It was 10:17pm when Peggy Carter finally left the training base, and damn it had been a long day. Stepping out into the night air she paused, relishing how cool and crisp it was. It reminded her of England.

When MI5 loaned her to the American military she’d expected to be in New Jersey for a few weeks tops before being sent to France. 4 months later and here she still was - overseeing the training of ridiculously muscled morons and twiddling her thumbs. She was one of Britain’s top agents for Christ sake, not some glorified PE teacher!

Peggy sighed walking past the gym, then the gun range, and finally the barracks. A hush had spread over the base, interrupted with the occasional boom of laughter as the boys settled in for the night.

The night sky was clear, the path in front of her bathed in moonlight. Stars winked overhead, and looking up Peggy wondered which ones still burned and which were ghosts - long since extinguished but with remnants of light still racing towards Earth. One day all of that light will have reached here and even the ghosts of stars would blink out. She wondered how long it would be till they all stopped burning. She wondered if this war would still be raging even then. 

Shaking the thought, Peggy reached the gates to the base and tapped on the glass of the watchman’s cubicle.

”Hey Sal, I’m heading off to Charlie’s. Would you like anything?”

Sal, a middle aged man with kind eyes, looked up from his book and beamed at Peggy. 

“Ahh would ya doll?” he said in a drawling American accent. “I could murder a cup of coffee!”

He scrambled in his pocket for a few dollar bills and handed them to Peggy.

”Cream and 2 sugars if you would be so kind!”

”No problem, I shouldn’t be too long,” she said and shot him a smile.

Sal was one of the very, very, **very** few men she could stand here. She doubted very much that she would get any of the other guys coffee. Or let them call her “doll” (as much as she knew they would like to). Sal was good natured, and respectful. The smile lines around his eyes reminded her of her father, God rest his soul. 

“Thank you ma’am, you’re a star!” He shouted after her.

It was only a 15 minute walk to Charlie’s Bar which, along with the minimum security at the base, only served to remind her how impressively un-important her post here was. Still, the place served good drinks. 

The bell above the door tinkled as she pushed it open. The bar was deserted except for 2 young men stood by the jukebox. Both civilians. She hardly ever saw other soldiers here.

The music from the jukebox filtered softly through the air, billiard balls stood stock still on the pool table and one of the men took a sip of his beer. They were both watching her but Peggy turned her back to them, hanging her hat on the coat stand and unbuttoning her jacket. They were hardly a threat to her - she knew 6 different ways to kill them with one of the pool cues before they even opened their mouths to give her some line. Plus she already knew the looks on their faces. A mix of surprise to see a woman in military uniform, and that dopey look of attraction men have (again, usually because of the uniform).

Peggy turned and walked towards the bar, her shoes not making a sound on the hardwood floor. There was a click as the music from the jukebox shut off, then the tinkle of the bell as the two men left, turning their collars up against the cold night air. Peggy took a seat at the abandoned bar and was about to ring for assistance when the sound of a few guitar chords broke the silence. 

A girl was perched upon a stool on the small stage across the room. She plucked another chord from the guitar in her lap before adjusting one of the tuning pegs. The girl hadn’t noticed Peggy yet, dark brows furrowed and red-painted lips pursed as she worked.

Even from just a side profile Peggy could tell she was pretty - brown hair resting in a prefect rolled-curl just above her shoulders. Then her face relaxed in satisfaction, she readjusted the position of her hands on the guitar, and began to play. 

The melody was soft and lilting. It danced up from the strings through the air, each note taking a speck of dust as it’s partner as it floated around chairs and in between bottles of liquor. Peggy hadn’t heard anything like it, such a contrast to the harsh vibrations of jazz on the radios and jukeboxes. This sound was soft like a lullaby but much more melancholy. 

Then the girl opened her mouth and began to sing.

 

_Turn off my mind, I beg you_

_It’s buzzing like the Devil’s bow_

_Pulling a soft virgin string_

_A terrible shriek from below_

 

Her voice was soft yet crisp. Content but oh so sad. It was hypnotic. 

 

_A pure heart been bound by Nickel_

_But not bent beneath the coil_

_If you play her right, she’ll sing through the night_

_With the whispering wheat in the fields_

 

Her fingers ghosted over the strings, each note as poignant as the last. When she let her voice carry the melody, singing the same notes as the strings it was like the sound reached out, across the room, and touched Peggy lightly in the centre of her chest. If she didn’t know better, she could’ve sworn it made her heart flutter.

 

_My fingers are wretched and calloused_

_Soon daybreak will creep up my stair_

_Now I’ve not got long, to summon the song_

_Of the girl with the flaxen hair_

 

Suddenly the door to the back of the bar crashed open and Peggy was torn from her trance. She blinked and realised she had been holding her breath. And staring. Oh and it must have been for an embarrassingly long amount to time. 

“Ah, shit,” grumbled Charlie, picking up the broken glass he’d just dropped as he came in.

The owner of the bar was a tall man in his fifties with grey hair and an even grey-er (but impressively bushy) moustache. He always sported a flannel shirt and a frown. 

“Hey there ma’am, bit late for you out ain’t it?” He asked, not looking up. 

Peggy cleared her throat, running a hand through her hair and turning away from the girl on the stage. 

“Evening Charlie. Hey, when did you hire a new singer? Doesn’t Jack still play here?”

At that he looked up, brow furrowing even further then usual in confusion. 

“Huh, he does...? Wha-“

He looked over at the stage where the girl still sat. She’d stopped singing but her hands still flitted over the instrument with effortless precision.

Charlie’s expression changed from confusion to annoyance. 

“Oh for Christ - Angie!” He shouted. 

At last the girl looked up and baby blue eyes met Peggy’s. Oh. This girl wasn’t just pretty she was beautiful. 

“Geez Ang, we’ve got customers here! Look busy!”

Angie’s face broke into a grin and Peggy could’ve sworn the room brightened just a little.

”Oh geez sorry Charlie! I just got carried away I guess.” Angie said with the widest smile. Nothing much shocked Peggy Carter. She had literally been trained to expect the unexpected. But Angie’s sudden change from singing such a raw and hauntingly beautiful song to an actual ray of sunshine? That was extraordinary in its own right.

”She didn’t seem to mind anyway,” Angie said, and threw Peggy a wink. So she had noticed me, Peggy thought, smiling.

”I hired a barmaid, not a singer,” Charlie clarified, “but you wouldn’t know it would ya!”

Angie had crossed the room and ducked behind the bar. It was only now that Peggy noticed the name tag and the red “Charlie’s” apron. Christ, she was getting rusty in that sodding training base.

”Now, I know you charmed Jack into letting you use his instruments but you ain’t charmed me just yet,” Charlie said to Angie, pointing at her with an old cleaning rag. “So if you’re gonna play something it’s jazz only. Might actually bring some people in you know.”

Angie laughed, crisp and clear like the chiming of a church bell. “Yeah I gotcha Charlie.”

The older man narrowed his eyes. “Keep an eye on her would ya Peg? Only been here a week and she’s already trouble.”

Peggy smiled, “Of course.” 

He gave Angie one more glare, but they could all see the slight upturnings of a smile at the corners of his moustache. Then he left through the door to the back, leaving Peggy and Angie alone. 

When Angie turned to face her their eyes met, and for a split second Peggy felt a faint pang of electricity. The younger woman really was beautiful. Those blue eyes and dark brows. The perfect curve of her chin. The small dimple-like lines around the corners of her mouth that ever so gently appeared when she smiled.

”So, English, what can I get for you?”

Peggy cleared her throat. Again. I mean really Peg pull yourself together!

”A couple beers and one coffee please. Milk, one sugar.” She was pretty sure Sal would appreciate one less sugar in the long run. 

“To have in or take away?”

“Take away.”

“Sure? You could stay for one more song?” Angie said playfully.

Peggy laughed. Genuinely out loud. That must have been the first time she had since being sent here.

”I don’t think Charlie would appreciate that much.” Peggy replied, popping that cap off one of her beers and taking a sip whilst she waited for the coffee.

Angie placed a lid on the takeaway cup. “Yeah he probably wouldn’t.”

She turned back to the countertop and placed the coffee in front of Peggy.

”How about you?” Her voice was soft. 

“What do you mean?”

Angie grinned again and lent on the countertop. She was close enough that Peggy could smell her perfume.

”I mean would you appreciate another song. Did you like the one I played earlier?”

Peggy took another sip, and their eyes met once again.

”I think it was beautiful.” She answered. And it was the truth.

And so was Angie’s smile.

”Well then, you know where to find me.” Another wink and she turned to tidy away the glasses that littered the countertop  

Peggy slid off the chair, and gathered her remaining beer and coffee to go. She turned and had made it halfway to the door before...

”Hey English!”

She turned back to see Angie leaning forward on the bar once again. 

“You still haven’t told me your name?”

Peggy placed her drinks on the nearby table and held her hand out.

”Peggy Carter”

Angie took her hand. Her skin was soft but Peggy could feel faint callouses on her fingertips from years of plucking guitar strings.

”Angie Martinelli”

They shook. 

**Author's Note:**

> The song is Claude’s Girl by Marika Hackman. Give it a listen, she’s an absolute babe.


End file.
